Sudeep - Find me on Bloggers.com Little bit of this and that: July 2010

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Deciphering politics

Indian politics continues to be the one thing which incessantly amazes me. It is something that I would never fully understand, no matter how hard I try. Just like electronics, the subject that I took up for Engineering studies.

But being a responsible citizen of this country, I can't fully turn my face away from politics. I need to know how my country is being run, by the representatives who are chosen by the people of this country. So, this post is the beginning of my humble attempt to analyze, understand and extract the valuable politics lessons, using the current happenings as my reference. I would also try to know about the various qualities that a politician should necessarily possess in order to lead this country to prosperity. If you are a mortal in a similar confused state as mine, join in, be a part, learn these valuable lessons, and throw in your suggestions. Or if you already claim to understand politics, there.. take that envious look from me.

Lesson no.1 - Never ending fight against corruption


Yes. That's something that politicians are supposed to do and talk about, throughout their political careers. Sorry. both are same. Talking is mostly what they do. Right? You can see corruption allegations being hurled at ministers and prominent leaders very often, and never think that it's for ruining the image of the enemy or for any sort of political gains. It's all part of the selfless fight. Want to see an example? No need to look too far.

If you have been reading the newspapers, or watching any of the news channels, you would know. The Bihar government was alleged of certain financial irregularities in the recent past. The opposition is demanding chief minister Nitish Kumar's resignation. Now, if you ask me, whether the allegation has truth in it, I don't know. That is definitely out of the radar of this blog. My focus is, the fight. Have a look at a few glimpses of that.



Bihar Assembly was in utter chaos, during last week. Now, for us, no better example can be found. How to fight against corruption is just being illustrated in the picture. Still don't get it? Let me explain

You can see the picture of MLC Jyoti Kumari throwing flower pots around. Flower pots made of clay tend to break when thrown from a particular height. What an effective way to protest against the alleged financial irregularities! But this particular technique works well only if the flower pots are the taxpayer's money. That's probably the reason why the respected MLC Jyoti Kumari didn't bring her own flower pots to implement this sophisticated yet effective way of fighting corruption. A slipper was flung at the speaker by someone. You might be thinking that it was a bit of an undisciplined act and all, but that's all part of the fight. A microphone was removed and thrown away, and lot more. Read the full story here.

I have studied about our political system in Social science, during my primary school days. But I never knew the practical side of it. Neither did the school Parliament teach me anything like these. Being in the school parliament was so easy, actually. No body threw slippers at each other. But the reality seems to be different. Chaos has prevailed in many of the state legislatures recently.(Link). So the school Parliaments need to change as well. Physical training is essential for the students. Or shall we club the school parliament with, say, Sports day or something? Training in Hammer throw, Shot put etc. might turn out to be pretty handy in the parliament.

Watch out for the coming lessons. Soon.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Worldcup hangover : Things that I miss

FIFA WC 2010 has just come to it's conclusion, with Spain having the last laugh. well deserved, I would say.

For the last one month, on almost every day, I had one or two international football matches to look towards, and that was really nice, especially when the hectic time that I was having, almost jeopardized the sanity of my mind. But not anymore. Now, I am suffering from the post world cup hangover. Missing the vigor and passion of hard fought football matches. So, here comes a list of the things that I miss very badly after the exceedingly well organized one month football extravaganza in South Africa. Pardon the nonsense.

1. Shakira



Shakira and her theme song were really magical. The best thing (arguably, I know) about this world cup. There was a bit of a controversy regarding FIFA not approaching an African singer to perform the theme song. But who wants to see an African singer like Akon or K'naan perform? Not that they aren't good enough. But still, can they be as hot and sexy as Shakira? Not in my perspective(Em kinda straight, you know), and I don't know about the girls out there.

Just watched an interview of Shakira in Youtube where she talks about her WC theme song, football in general, and work that her foundation does to provide education to poor children. Find the video here. The interviewer appreciates all the philanthropic work that she does, or at least she claims to be doing. Even I appreciate the same too. But I've never seen anyone appreciating the philanthropic work of Vicente Ferrer Moncho or Jamini Bhushan Ray. The rule is quite simple. When you are an exceedingly hot female, the probability of your philanthropic/social work being appreciated is very very high.


I need to move on to the next item in the list. Let me conclude this one first.

Providing education to poor children is a great thing. Education helps us to live on this planet in a better way. Earth is such a beautiful planet and we need to conserve it. Because, earth is the only planet where Shakira exists. Damn.

2. Vuvuzela



Vuvuzela needs no introduction, for those who have been watching FIFA WC 2010 matches. Vuvuzela is the large blowing horn which produces a highly annoying buzzing sound. It is very commonly played during football matches in South Africa. The sound is so annoying that, certain television networks had to try to filter it out.

Google has even introduced a Vuvuzela button in Youtube. While watching football videos, you can blow a Vuvuzela. If you haven't seen that button yet, check out the highlights video of the Ghana Uruguay quarter final here. You can start blowing the Vuvuzela by clicking on the football shaped button seen near the pop out button.


3. Paul and his predictions

Paul is the psychic octopus who predicted the outcomes of several matches correctly. He is a maverick, indeed. He entered the field of astrology, and no other octopus has done it before.
If the Paul prediction thing had happened in India, won't the west have accused us Indians of being superstitious? Anyways, I enjoyed the buzz around his predictions, and all the lame jokes surrounding it. I miss Paul, and I am sure he is disappointed too. He hasn't got any more predictions to make. He has to live as an ordinary octopus now. What would have Paul said on the situation, if he could speak? Here comes the answer.

"Ahem.. Thanks for all your support. Now my future looks kinda empty, as the world cup is over. But on the other hand, er.. I mean, on any of the other eight hands, I have noticed certain opportunities in the form of Indian premier league. I could predict the results of those matches"

How about that? Shall we begin a campaign 'Paul in IPL'? Or shall we use him to predict the things that are likely to happen in our Indian politics, where the happening are unexpected and illogical most of the times? That could work out very well, considering the fact that Paul also doesn't have any logic or skill behind his predictions.

So, these are the things that I miss, mostly. The withdrawal symptoms are so strong that, despite not being a keen observer of club football, I have decided to keep track of all the English/Spanish premier league matches this year.